Washington was built on a swamp, and AP is looking for a reporter to trudge through the muck of political money and influence. This reporter will lead the AP’s coverage of the roles of money, bundlers, interest groups, lobbyists and more in the wide-open 2012 Republican primaries, President Obama’s re-election bid and the battle for control of the House and Senate. The reporter works on AP’s Washington investigative team and works closely with AP’s team of national campaign reporters and its 50-state network of journalists aimed at leveraging AP’s broad reach to dominate political coverage.

This reporter will develop sources within the presidential campaigns, political parties, watchdog community and Federal Election Commission to regularly uncover breaking news and provide insightful analysis about receipts and expenditures of campaign-related money, particularly to explain how this affects a candidate’s viability or political strategy.

The reporter also plays a key role in vetting and examining the backgrounds of political candidates for problems such as tax woes, substance abuse, sexual affairs and financial conflicts. This is a highly technical job that requires expertise and finding and interviewing insiders, reviewing documents and filing requests under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and related state and local laws. In non-election years, the reporter would focus on lobbying and money relationships across all parts of the federal government, plus vetting the backgrounds of appointees such as Cabinet and Supreme Court nominees, and other data and investigative reporting projects. We would expect this reporter to also play a key role in newsroom training plus mentoring across AP on FOIA, campaign finance, investigative reporting and computer-assisted reporting.
QUALIFICATIONS: (Among other things listed)

The ideal candidate would have five or more years of experience in investigative or money and politics reporting.